System and method for management of perpetual inventory values associated with nil picks

ABSTRACT

An electronic indication of a nil pick is received. Item information associated with the desired product, sales data concerning the desired product, supply chain information associated with the desired product, and a perpetual inventory (PI) value of the desired product are stored. An adjustment to the PI of the desired product is blocked when a predetermined event occurs at the retail store, or when information that contradicts the validity of the nil pick is received from the retail store. When the adjustment to the PI of the desired product is not blocked, an amount of the adjustment is determined based upon one or more of: the item information associated with the product, the sales data concerning the product, and the supply chain information associated with the desired product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of the following U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/471,412 filed Mar. 15, 2017, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the management of perpetualinventory values, and more particularly, to the management of perpetualinventory values when a nil pick occurs.

BACKGROUND

Various approaches and values are utilized to track the exact amount ofproducts present in a retail store. Among other things, the amount of aproduct that is available in the store may be used in determining whento re-order the product from a supplier, and the popularity of theproduct.

Perpetual inventory (PI) values are one type of indicator used to trackproduct availability. PI values generally relate to the amount of aselected product available at a retail store.

Sometimes, PI values become inaccurate. Incorrect PI values can lead toinefficient operation of the store. For instance, an item may need to beretrieved in the store. A store employee (or autonomous vehicle) may beasked to find an item to satisfy a customer requests based on a PI valuethat indicates that product is present in the store. However, in somesituations, a “nil pick” occurs when the item is not located even thoughthe PI value indicates product availability. Nil picks waste systemresources and contribute to the inefficient operation of retail stores.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems, apparatuses and methodspertaining to managing perpetual inventory values. This descriptionincludes drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one example of a system that adjuststhe PI of a product after a nil pick in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one example of an approach for adjustingthe PI of a selected product after a nil pick in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing another example of an approach foradjusting the PI of a selected product after a nil pick in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing one example of an approach for making a PIadjustment in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one example of application of theexample of FIG. 4 in accordance with some embodiments.

Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensionsand/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures maybe exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improveunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also,common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in acommercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order tofacilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of thepresent invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, systems, apparatuses and methods are provided thatadjust perpetual inventory values when a nil pick occurs with a highdegree of confidence that the adjustment is correct. Advantageously, PIadjustments are blocked when, for example, there is an on-going audit atthe store, or when the back room value of the product indicates there isproduct in the back room. The adjustment may also be calculated in a waythat increases the confidence level for the adjustment.

In some of these embodiments, a system that is configured to manage theoccurrence of nil picks in a retail store includes an interface, adatabase, and a control circuit. The interface is configured to receivean electronic indication of a nil pick. The nil pick occurs when anemployee or automated vehicle fails to find a desired product in theretail store. The database stores item information associated with thedesired product, sales data concerning the desired product, and supplychain information associated with the desired product. The database alsostores a perpetual inventory (PI) value of the desired product. Thecontrol circuit is coupled to the interface and the database, and isconfigured to block an adjustment to the PI of the desired product whena predetermined event occurs at the retail store, or when informationthat contradicts the validity of the nil pick is received from theretail store. When the adjustment to the PI of the desired product isnot blocked, the control circuit is configured to determine theadjustment based upon one or more factors including the item informationassociated with the product, the sales data concerning the product,and/or the supply chain information associated with the desired product.

In aspects, the control circuit is configured to transmit the adjustmentto the retail store. The retail store may then make the adjustment tothe PI.

In other examples, the item information associated with the product maybe the cost of the product, physical characteristics of the product, asize of a warehouse pack that includes the product, and/or the size of acase pack that includes the product. Other examples of item informationare possible.

In yet other examples, the sales data concerning the product includesinformation such as the amount of the product that has been sold, and/orwhen the product was sold. Other examples of sales data are possible.

In still other examples, the supply chain information may includeinformation such as delivery dates for the product, and/or an amount ofthe product delivered on the delivery dates. Other examples of supplychain information are possible.

In aspects, the predetermined event is an event such as an inventoryaudit at the retail store, or a lack of sales scan for the productwithin a predetermined time. Other examples of predetermined events arepossible.

In still other aspects, information that contradicts the validity of thenil pick may be data such as a back room inventory value that indicatesthe product exists in a back room of the retail store, and a messagefrom the store indicating the store is aware of the nil pick. Otherexamples are possible.

In yet other examples, the control circuit transmits an alert to a storeemployee when the adjustment to the PI is made. The employee may takeappropriate actions after receiving the alert.

In still other examples, the system further includes a robot, and therobot is operated to verify the occurrence of the nil pick. For example,the robot may verify that there is none of the product in the store.

It will be appreciated that the system may be deployed at a locationsuch as some central location (e.g., a home office) or at a retailstore. The system may be deployed at other locations as well.

In others of these embodiments, an electronic indication of a nil pickis received. The nil pick occurs when an employee or automated vehiclefails to find a desired product in the retail store. Item informationassociated with the desired product, sales data concerning the desiredproduct, supply chain information associated with the desired product,and a perpetual inventory (PI) value of the desired product are stored,for example, in a database. An adjustment to the PI of the desiredproduct is blocked when a predetermined event occurs at the retailstore, or when information that contradicts the validity of the nil pickis received from the retail store. When the adjustment to the PI of thedesired product is not blocked, an amount of the adjustment isdetermined based upon the item information associated with the product,the sales data concerning the product, and/or the supply chaininformation associated with the desired product.

In still others of these embodiments, a system is configured to managethe occurrence of nil picks in a retail store, the system. The systemincludes an automated vehicle, one or more sales entry devices, atransceiver circuit, a network, an interface, a database, and a controlcircuit.

The automated vehicle is disposed at a retail store and is configured togenerate an indication of a nil pick. The nil pick occurs when theautomated vehicle fails to find a desired product in the retail store.The one or more sales entry devices are disposed at the retail store.

The transceiver circuit is disposed at the retail store and is coupledto the automated vehicle and the sales entry devices. The network iscoupled to the transceiver circuit.

The interface is disposed at a central processing center and coupled tothe network. The interface is configured to receive the electronicindication of the nil pick.

The database is disposed at a central processing center and stores iteminformation associated with the desired product, sales data concerningthe desired product obtained from the sales entry devices, supply chaininformation associated with the desired product, and a perpetualinventory (PI) value of the desired product.

The control circuit is disposed at a central processing center and iscoupled to the interface and the database. The control circuit isconfigured to block an adjustment to the PI of the desired product whena predetermined event occurs at the retail store, or when informationthat contradicts the validity of the nil pick is received from theretail store or from other retail stores. The control circuit if furtherconfigured to, when the adjustment to the PI of the desired product isnot blocked, determine the adjustment based upon one or more of: theitem information associated with the product, the sales data concerningthe product at the retail store, the supply chain information associatedwith the desired product, and sales data concerning the desired productat other retail stores. The control circuit is configured to transmitthe adjustment or an adjusted PI to the transceiver at the retail store.

Referring now to FIG. 1, one example of a system 100 for adjusting thePI value of a selected product in a retail store 102 is described. Theretail store 102 may be any type of retail store, for example, adiscount center, a grocery store, a department store, or a hardwarestore to mention a few examples.

The retail store includes a database 152 that stores for each product aPI value 122. The PI value 122 for the selected product indicates theamount of a selected product in the retail store. The PI value 122 isused for various purposes by the retail store 102 such as determiningwhen to reorder products from a warehouse or other supplier.

A communication device 154 allows the retail store 102 to communicatewith devices and entities that are external to the store. Thecommunication device 154 may include any combination of hardware orsoftware that allows communications to be received at the retail store102, and makes transmissions from the retail store 102. In one example,the communication device 154 may be a transceiver circuit. Thecommunication device 154 may be deployed within or at another device(e.g., a modem, a smart phone, or a personal computer, to mention a fewexamples).

Cloud network 104 is coupled to the communication device 154 (e.g., atransceiver) at the retail store 102. The cloud network 104 may be anytype of computer or communication network and may include routers,gateways, and servers to mention a few examples of devices that can formor be utilized in the network 104. The cloud network 104 may also becombinations of various types of networks.

An apparatus 106 includes an interface 130, a control circuit 132, and adatabase 134. The interface 130 is configured to receive from the retailstore 102 the perpetual inventory (PI) value 122 associated with theselected product. The database 134 stores the PI value 122.Alternatively, the apparatus 106 may calculate the PI value 122 andstore the result in the database 134. In aspects, the apparatus 106 maybe disposed at a central processing center or location such as abusiness headquarters. In other examples, the apparatus 106 is disposedat one or more remote locations (e.g., retail stores). Advantageously,disposing the apparatus at a central processing center reduces datastorage cost, since all data can be stored at a single location insteadof at multiple locations. Consequently, the PI value may be calculatedremotely at the retail store 102 or at the central processing center.

The control circuit 132 is coupled to the interface 130 and the database134. The control circuit 132 is configured to obtain the PI value 122from the database 134. It will be appreciated that as used herein theterm “control circuit” refers broadly to any microcontroller, computer,or processor-based device with processor, memory, and programmableinput/output peripherals, which is generally designed to govern theoperation of other components and devices. It is further understood toinclude common accompanying accessory devices, including memory,transceivers for communication with other components and devices, etc.These architectural options are well known and understood in the art andrequire no further description here. The control circuit 132 may beconfigured (for example, by using corresponding programming stored in amemory as will be well understood by those skilled in the art) to carryout one or more of the steps, actions, and/or functions describedherein.

The control circuit 132 is coupled to the interface 130 and the database134 and is configured to block an adjustment to the PI of a desiredproduct when a predetermined event occurs at the retail store 102, orwhen information that contradicts the validity of the nil pick isreceived from the retail store 102. When the adjustment to the PI of thedesired product is not blocked, the control circuit 132 is configured todetermine the adjustment to the PI based upon the item informationassociated with the product, the sales data concerning the product,and/or the supply chain information associated with the desired product.In other aspects, the control circuit 132 is configured to transmit theadjustment (or the adjusted PI value) to the retail store 102.

In some examples, the item information associated with the product maybe the cost of the product, physical characteristics of the product, asize of a warehouse pack that includes the product, or the size of acase pack that includes the product. Other examples of item informationare possible. The item information may be stored in the database 134. Inexamples, the item information may be received electronically from amanufacturer (e.g., via the network 104), or from the retail store 102.

In aspects, the sales data concerning the product includes informationsuch as an amount of the product sold, or when the product was sold.Other examples of sales data are possible. The sales data may be storedin the database 134. The sales data may be obtained from sales entrydevices disposed at the retail store 102 and may be received at theapparatus 106, which may be disposed at a central processing center.

In other examples, the supply chain information includes informationsuch as delivery dates for the product, or an amount of the productdelivered on the delivery dates. Other examples are possible. The supplychain information may be stored in the database 134. In aspects, thesupply chain information may be obtained from the manufacturer of theproduct, or from the retail store 102 and may be received at theapparatus 106, which may be disposed at a central processing center.

In other aspects, the predetermined event is an event such as aninventory audit at the retail store, or the lack of a sales scan beingmade for the product within a predetermined time period. Other examplesof predetermined events are possible. This information may be stored inthe database 134. In aspects, the information concerning thepredetermined event may be obtained from another entity (e.g., themanufacturer of the product or a central headquarters), or from theretail store 102 and may be received at the apparatus 106, which may bedisposed at a central processing center. Various devices (e.g., salesentry devices or sensors) can be used to collect this information.

In still other aspects, information that contradicts the validity of thenil pick may be data such as a back room inventory value that indicatesthe product exists in a back room of the retail store, or a message fromthe store indicating that the store is aware of the nil pick. In thesecases, the nil pick (PI value is 0) is contradicted by information thatindicates the PI value is not 0. The back room of the retail store maybe a room or other space that is not accessible to customers. Thisinformation may also be stored in the database 134. The backroominformation may be a numerical value sent from the retail store 102, ormay be scans (e.g., obtained by sensors such as cameras) of the backroomsent from the retail store 102 and that are analyzed by the apparatus106 to determine the backroom inventory value.

Information may be also received at the control circuit 132 as towhether the PI was blocked at other retail stores or otherwisecontradicts the validity of the nil pick (indicating the PI value shouldnot be changed). For example, another store (or a predetermined numberof other stores) may be under audit indicating that changes to the PIvalue at the present store should be blocked. This information may alsobe stored in the database 134. Information that contradicts the validityof the nil pick may be received at the apparatus 106 (when the apparatusis disposed at a central processing center) from the retail store 102,and/or from other retail stores.

If an adjustment to the PI is made, various additional actions can betaken. In some examples, the control circuit 132 transmits an alert to astore employee when the adjustment to the PI is made. Automated devicescan also be utilized in a variety of different ways. For instance, thesystem may also include a robot, and the robot is operated to verify theoccurrence of the nil pick.

As mentioned, the system 100 may be deployed at a variety of locations.For instance, the system 100 may be deployed at a central location(e.g., such as at a home or central office), or at the retail store.Other examples of deployment locations are possible.

Referring now to FIG. 2, one example of an approach for adjusting the PIvalue after a nil pick is described. In this example, it is assumed thatdata is gathered at the retail store and sent to a central processingcenter for the determination of PI adjustments. However, in otherexamples, all processing may occur at the retail store. At step 202, anil pick occurs at a retail store and an indication of the nil pick iscreated. A nil pick occurs when a picker (e.g., a human or an automatedvehicle) attempts to find an item at a location, but the item is not atthe location. The indication of the nil pick is sent over a network(e.g., the cloud) 204 from the retail store to a central processingcenter, in one example.

At step 206, the system (e.g., the central processing center) receivesthe indication of the nil pick. The indication may be an electronicindication. In some examples, the indication is entered into anelectronic device by an employee that attempts, but fails to find theproduct. In other examples, the indication is created by an automatedvehicle (e.g., an automated ground vehicle or aerial drone) thatattempts, but fails to find the product.

At step 210, item information is received from a database 208. Inexamples, the item information associated with the product may be thecost of the product, physical characteristics of the product, a size ofa warehouse pack that includes the product, or the size of a case packthat includes the product. In aspects, the database 208 may be disposedat the central processing center.

At step 212, sales information is received from the database 208. Inexamples, the sales data concerning the product includes informationsuch as an amount of the product sold, or when the product was sold. Thesales information may be collected by sales entry devices (e.g.,scanners, sensors, cash registers) at the retail store and sent to thecentral processing center.

At step 214, supply chain information is received from the database 208.In examples, the supply chain information includes information such asdelivery dates for the product, or an amount of the product delivered onthe delivery dates. The supply chain information may be received at thecentral processing center from, for example, a product manufacturer,supplier, retail store, and/or delivery service.

At step 216, a PI adjustment is blocked if the store is under audit. By“audit,” it is meant an inspection or verification of the accounts,inventory, and/or records of the retail store. At step 218, the PIadjustment is blocked if back room inventory of the product exists.

At step 220, the PI adjustment is blocked if the store submitted achange to the PI (on-hand inventory) since the nil pick occurred. Atstep 222, the PI adjustment is blocked if there has been no scan of theproduct within a predetermined time. The scan may be a visual scan ofthe product, or a scan of a tag on the product (e.g., an RFID tag).Information may be also received as to whether the PI was blocked atother retail stores or otherwise contradicts the validity of the nil pick (indicating the PI value should not be changed). For example, anotherstore (or a predetermined number of other stores may be under auditindicating that changes to the PI value at the present store should beblocked.

At step 224, the PI adjustment is determined. Various approaches can beused to determine the adjustment. Item information, sales information,and/or supply chain information can be considered. The importance of theindividual pieces of the information in making the adjustment can beweighted. To take one example, if all information indicates that thereis no product in the store, then the adjustment is a value that (whensubtracted from the PI) results in a 0 value for the PI. In otherexamples, the adjusted PI value is also determined. In still otheraspects, sales data concerning the desired product at other retailstores can be considered. For example, when the PI value is adjusted to0 at other stores under similar circumstances, then the PI value mightbe adjusted to 0 as well.

At step 226, the PI adjustment is sent to the cloud (or to anothernetwork). At step 228, the PI adjustment is received at the store viathe cloud (or other network). The PI adjustment can then be applied tothe PI of the product at the retail store. In other examples and asmentioned, the adjusted PI value (rather than the adjustment) is sent tothe retail store. The store may then use an adjusted PI, for example,for various purposes such as re-ordering products.

Referring now to FIG. 3, one example of an approach for adjusting the PIvalue for a nil pick is described. At step 302, an indication of a nilpick is received. The indication may be an electronic indication. Insome examples, the indication is entered into an electronic device(e.g., smart phone, tablet, laptop or personal computer) by an employeethat attempts, but fails to find the product. In other examples, theindication is created by an automated vehicle (e.g., an automated groundvehicle or aerial drone) that attempts, but fails to find the product.

At step 304, item information associated with the desired product, salesdata concerning the desired product, supply chain information associatedwith the desired product, and a perpetual inventory (PI) value of thedesired product are received and stored. Item information may includethe cost of the product, physical characteristics of the product, a sizeof a warehouse pack that includes the product, or the size of a casepack that includes the product. Sales data may include productinformation such as an amount of the product sold, or when the productwas sold. Supply chain information may include information such asdelivery dates for the product, or an amount of the product delivered onthe delivery dates.

At step 306, an adjustment to the PI of the desired product is blockedwhen a predetermined event occurs at the retail store. In examples, thepredetermined event is an event such as an inventory audit at the retailstore, or a lack of sales scan for the product within a predeterminedtime.

At step 308, an adjustment to the PI of the desired product is blockedwhen information that contradicts the validity of the nil pick isreceived from the retail store. Information that contradicts thevalidity of the nil pick is any information that suggests or validatesthat the product is present somewhere in the store. This information mayinclude data such as a back room inventory value that indicates theproduct exists in a back room of the retail store, or a message from thestore indicating the store is aware of the nil pick.

At step 310, when the adjustment to the PI of the desired product is notblocked, an amount of the adjustment is determined based upon the iteminformation associated with the product, the sales data concerning theproduct, and/or the supply chain information associated with the desiredproduct.

One example of an approach for determining the magnitude (and/or sign)of the adjustment is described below with respect to FIG. 4. In aspects,the approach of FIG. 4 may be performed at a central processing center.However, in other aspects, the approach of FIG. 4 may be implemented ateach retail store, instead of at a single, central location to which arecoupled multiple retails stores.

Referring now to FIG. 4, one approach for determining the magnitudeand/or sign of a PI adjustment is described. At step 402, shipmentinformation is received, for example, at a central processing center.This information may include when a shipment of the product was receivedat the retail store, and how much of the product was received in theshipment. At step 404, recent sales data is received, for example, atthe central processing center. This data indicates the date and amountof product sold by the store within predefined time periods. At step406, item information including the size of the product is received, forexample, at the central processing center.

At step 408, the considerations are weighted by importance. In aspects,one consideration may be more highly valued than another consideration,and the more highly valued consideration is given a higher weight whenthe adjustment is calculated. In other cases, all considerations may beequally weighted in importance.

At step 410, a PI adjustment is determined or calculated based upon ananalysis of the weighted considerations, and an application of theconsiderations to the initial PI value. For example, if the shipmentinformation indicates that an amount of product (e.g., greater than afirst predetermined threshold) was received, then no PI adjustment ismade. In other aspects, when the shipment information indicates that anamount of product (e.g., greater than a second predetermined threshold)was received, the PI is increased by a percentage (e.g., the percentagebased upon the amount).

In other examples, the PI may be adjusted downward by a predeterminedamount when the product size is greater than some predetermined set ofdimensions. In yet other examples, the PI may be adjusted downward byanother predetermined amount when the sale amount is zero.

Referring now to FIG. 5, one specific example of the application of thealgorithm of FIG. 4 is described. A retail store (e.g., a discountcenter) sells products, and each product has an associated PI value. Inaspects, the approach of FIG. 5 may be performed at a central processingcenter. However, in other aspects, the approach of FIG. 5 may beimplemented at each retail store, instead of at a single, centrallocation to which are coupled multiple retails stores.

At step 502, an initial PI value for a product is obtained. In thisexample, the initial PI value is 10. Thus, the PI value suggests thatthere are 10 of the product in the store.

Next, various types of information may be obtained and used to determinea PI adjustment. In these regards, at step 504, information is receivedor obtained that a shipment of the product was recently received at theretail store (e.g., in the last two days), and the amount of productreceived (e.g., 5). Information is also received or obtained that theproduct is of large size or dimensions (e.g., 36 inches by 24 inches).Further information (e.g., sales information) is received or obtainedthat indicate the item was not recently sold to a customer at the retailstore (e.g., no sales within the last two days).

In one view, indications that a shipment of the product that recentlyreceived at the store and received in significant volume indicates thatthe item may actually be present at the store and should have a non-zeroPI, if this factor is considered in isolation.

On the other hand, the item has a large size or dimensions (e.g., 36inches by 24 inches), and this may indicate that it would be difficultfor a picker to miss the item (e.g., by scans or observation). In otherwords, a nil pick may indicate that the product is actually not presentin the store since the large size would be difficult or impossible tohave been missed by the picker. Thus, the PI value for the productshould be zero or close to zero if this factor is considered by itself.

Information indicating that the item was not recently sold may alsosuggest that the item is actually missing from the store. Consequently,the PI value for the product should be zero or close to zero if thisfactor is considered in isolation.

At step 506, the weight attached to each piece of information isobtained or determined. In some aspects, each weight may be a valuebetween 0 and 1. In this example, the three factors are assumed to eachhave equal weights (i.e., no one factor is more determinative than anyanother factor).

At step 508, the PI adjustment is determined. The initial PI value maybe used as a starting point and adjustments made by interpreting each ofthe three factors to adjust the PI. In this example, the starting pointfor the PI is 10. The first factor (shipping) indicates that the itemwas recently shipped to the store suggesting that the item is in thestore, so no adjustment to the value of 10 is made. If the shipmentamount were greater than a certain number (e.g., 100), the PI mayactually be increased (the adjustment is greater than 1).

The second factor indicates the item is large in dimensions. Consideredalone, this factor indicates the PI should be 0 (or close to zero).However, the first factor (recent shipments) suggested a non-zero PI.Combining the first and second factors results in a downward adjustmentto the PI, but not to a zero PI (because the first factor suggests anon-zero PI). In this case and considering factors 1 and 2 only, the PIis adjusted down 50%, to a value of 5 (the total adjustment for the PIis now −5).

The third factor indicates the item was not sold at the store recently.This factor when considered in isolation suggests the PI should beadjusted to zero. However, when consider with the first factor and thesecond factor, the result is a downward PI adjustment (but not to zerosince the first factor suggests product might be available). In thiscase, the PI is adjusted downward by 3 to a value of 2 (another downwardadjustment of 50%). Thus, the overall PI adjustment is −8.

It will be appreciated that this is one example of how a PI may beadjusted and that other approaches are possible. Different results areobtained when other factors are considered and/or when the factors areweighted differently.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of othermodifications, alterations, and combinations can also be made withrespect to the above described embodiments without departing from thescope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, andcombinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventiveconcept.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system that is configured to manage theoccurrence of nil picks in a retail store, the system comprising: anautomated vehicle disposed at a retail store and that is configured togenerate an indication of a nil pick, the nil pick occurring when theautomated vehicle fails to find a desired product in the retail store;one or more sales entry devices disposed at the retail store; atransceiver circuit disposed at the retail store and coupled to theautomated vehicle and the sales entry devices; a network coupled to thetransceiver circuit; an interface disposed at a central processingcenter and coupled to the network, the interface being configured toreceive the electronic indication of the nil pick; a database disposedat a central processing center and that stores item informationassociated with the desired product, sales data concerning the desiredproduct obtained from the sales entry devices, supply chain informationassociated with the desired product, and a perpetual inventory (PI)value of the desired product; a control circuit disposed at a centralprocessing center and coupled to the interface and the database, thecontrol circuit configured to: block an adjustment to the PI of thedesired product when a predetermined event occurs at the retail store,or when information that contradicts the validity of the nil pick isreceived from the retail store or from other retail stores; when theadjustment to the PI of the desired product is not blocked, determinethe adjustment based upon one or more of: the item informationassociated with the product, the sales data concerning the product atthe retail store, the supply chain information associated with thedesired product, and sales data concerning the desired product at otherretail stores; transmit the adjustment or an adjusted PI to thetransceiver at the retail store.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theautomated vehicle is an unmanned ground vehicle or an aerial drone. 3.The system of claim 1, wherein the item information associated with theproduct includes data selected from the group consisting of: the cost ofthe product, physical characteristics of the product, a size of awarehouse pack that includes the product, and the size of a case packthat includes the product.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the salesdata concerning the product includes information selected from the groupconsisting of: an amount of the product sold and when the product wassold.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the supply chain informationincludes information selected from the group consisting of deliverydates for the product, and an amount of the product delivered on thedelivery dates.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the predeterminedevent is an event selected from the group consisting of: an inventoryaudit at the retail store, and a lack of sales scan for the productwithin a predetermined time.
 7. The system of claim 1, whereininformation that contradicts the validity of the nil pick is dataselected from the group consisting of: a back room inventory value thatindicates the product exists in a back room of the retail store, and amessage from the store indicating the store is aware of the nil pick. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the control circuit transmits an alert toa store employee when the adjustment to the PI is made.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the automated vehicle is configured to verify theoccurrence of the nil pick.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein thesystem is deployed at a location selected from the group consisting of:a central location, and at the retail store.
 11. A method of managingthe occurrence of nil picks in a retail store, the method comprising:receiving at a central processing center an electronic indication of anil pick from an automated vehicle, the nil pick occurring when theautomated vehicle fails to find a desired product in the retail store;storing at a database at the central processing center item informationassociated with the desired product, sales data concerning the desiredproduct, supply chain information associated with the desired product,and a perpetual inventory (PI) value of the desired product; at acontrol circuit at the central processing center, blocking an adjustmentto the PI of the desired product when a predetermined event occurs atthe retail store, or when information that contradicts the validity ofthe nil pick is received from the retail store or from other retailstores; at a control circuit at the central processing center, when theadjustment to the PI of the desired product is not blocked, determiningan amount of the adjustment based upon one or more of: the iteminformation associated with the product, the sales data concerning theproduct, the supply chain information associated with the desiredproduct, and sales data concerning the desired product at other retailstores; at a control circuit at the central processing center,transmitting the adjustment or an adjusted PI to a transceiver circuitat the retail store.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatedvehicle is an unmanned ground vehicle or an aerial drone.
 13. The methodof claim 11, wherein the item information associated with the productincludes data selected from the group consisting of: the cost of theproduct, physical characteristics of the product, a size of a warehousepack that includes the product, and the size of a case pack thatincludes the product.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the sales dataconcerning the product includes information selected from the groupconsisting of: an amount of the product sold and when the product wassold.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the supply chain informationincludes information selected from the group consisting of deliverydates for the product, and an amount of the product delivered on thedelivery dates.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the predeterminedevent is an event selected from the group consisting of: an inventoryaudit at the retail store, and a lack of sales scan for the productwithin a predetermined time.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein theinformation that contradicts the validity of the nil pick is dataselected from the group consisting of: a back room inventory value thatindicates the product exists in a back room of the retail store, and amessage from the store indicating the store is aware of the nil pick.18. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting an alert toa store employee when the adjustment to the PI is made.
 19. The methodof claim 11, wherein the automated vehicle is configured to verify theoccurrence of the nil pick.
 20. The method of claim 11, wherein thesteps are executed at a central location or in the retail store.